Ground Zero
by WhenWeMeetAgain
Summary: September 11th, 2001. We all remember where we were that day. This is Katie's story of what she went through to find Travis. Tratie. AU. For everyone who lost someone on that day.


September 11th, 2001. We all know were we were that horrible day, I was in my apartment. Watching the news while we got the day off of school because we heard news that the twin towers were hit with planes and were coming down. My boyfriend, Travis Stoll was in one of the towers, visiting his dad who worked there.

I covered my mouth in horror, seeing the first tower collapse. I got up from my seat and went to my window where I could see the towers. My friends, Piper, Hazel, Annabeth, Percy, Jason, Leo, and Frank were with me.

"I have to go down there" I said. I made my way to the door and felt someone hold me back. Tears were streaming down my face. "Let me go!" I tried to kick Percy.

"Katie, there's nothing you can do, come on, we can wait for a phone call from Travis" Jason helped Percy hold me from the door. I brought my foot back and kicked Percy in the groin. I then punched Jason in the stomach and ran out the door. Tears were falling from my face as I ran to the crumbling towers.

I stopped when I could get as close as possible. Percy, Annabeth, and Leo were next to me. You could see the smoke and rumble. I grabbed hold of Leo and cried into his shoulder. He hugged me and said soothing things in my ear. I didn't listen to him, I was focused of making sure Travis got out of there. I took out my phone and called Travis. My friends gathered around me.

"Katie?" his voice came through the phone.

"Travis" I breathed. "Are you okay? Where are you?" I asked him.

"I'm just a few floors from the ground, we're helping a few people leave, okay? I love you" he said.

"I love you too" I cried into the phone before it went dead. I couldn't see a thing, but I knew he would make it out. There was grey snow everywhere, from the south tower collapsing.

"What did he say?" Piper was at my side. My eyes were most likely as red as my hair.

"He said he was a few floors from the ground and they were helping a few people who were injured get out and that he loves me" I felt individual tears come down my face. It was like each was full of hope for him to come out. I saw a firefighter near me. He had his suit on and was helping direct people out of the building.

"Sir" I was in front of him.

"Yes?" he had a southern accent.

"Do you think the north tower will fall?" I asked him. All I had now was hope.

"It's starting to fall now" he said. He looked younger, like he was in his late twenties. I shook my head.

"No, it won't fall" I said. He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Why do you think that?" he asked me.

"My boyfriends in there, it won't fall until he's out, I know it for a fact" I said. My voice was so certain it shocked the man.

"I'm sorry Miss, but he might not make it out" he sounded like he hated to break the news to me. I shook my head.

"He's the love of my life and love conquers all, so why don't you get your ass in there and help people out, that way we can get more people out and more people mean my boyfriend" I told him. He nodded, he looked impressed with my actions. He stopped directing people and ran in the north building. I now helped to direct people out. A few firefighters going in the building gave me odd looks, but I was determined.

"Katie, what are you doing?" Hazel asked. I told a blonde woman where she could find some building.

"I am helping people out" I said. A man was limping out and I put an arm under him and helped him to an ambulance. His leg was bleeding and once the doctors there got him, I ran back to my area where I helped people out and saw that Hazel and all my other friends were helping people out. A woman came out and had burns all over her and she was bleeding. She almost fell to the ground before I grabbed her and helped her out. A few people were taking our picture. I set her down while they got her oxygen and turned back to help more people before she grabbed my wrist.

"You look to young to be a firefighter" she said. Her light brown hair was cut above her shoulder. She had on a nice looking suit.

"I'm not" I told her.

"Then what are you doing?" she asked me.

"Looking for my boyfriend and helping everyone out" I told her. She stared at me for a moment and smiled.

"You're a brave girl" she smiled. "What's your name?"

"Katie Gardner" I told her.

"You will be remembered for being a hero darling" she waved me off. I helped a short woman find some place where she was meeting her husband.

"Katie!" someone yelled. I turned my head and saw a bloody Travis and his brother, Connor carrying out a woman who looked almost dead. I ran to them and picked up the woman from their weak arms. I brought her to an ambulance, they were everywhere. They took her from there. I saw Travis and his brother limp over to the same ambulance and got medical attention. Once I could, I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him.

"I thought for a moment you wouldn't come out" I cried on his shoulder. He shook his head.

"I could never leave you" he said. I pulled away and kissed him. I could taste his blood in his mouth. He was a head taller than me, so when he sat down on the metal car. I could lean over to kiss him. He pulled away.

"You should help the others get out, it's going to come down soon, save as many lives as you can" he kissed my forehead. I smiled at him and gave him a hug before running off to help more people, even after the north building fell I dug around the rumble and found people, even after some people left. My friends stayed and they took Travis and Connor to the hospital.

I saw the firefighter I yelled at before and gave him a nod and smile before digging around and finding a blonde woman. Once it was night, we went back to my apartment and grabbed food and went to the hospital to visit. Travis had minor burns and a deep cut he had to get stitches on, on his left leg. Connor had bad burns all over his body, so they were treatment on that. Everyone went to visit him while I went to Travis's room.

"Hey" I kissed his temple.

"Hey, I must admit, I expected you to be in a cute nurses outfit" his laugh turned into a cough, I stopped laughed and became concerned.

"I'm fine, don't worry" he reassured me. I smiled and kissed him on the lips.

"If you wanted me in a sexy nurse outfit, wait until Halloween" I smiled against his lips.

...0.00.0...0.0...

I sat in front of the couch and turned on the TV, sitting next to my son, Luke, named after Travis's brother who died on 9/11 since he worked in the south building. He was five while my daughter, Anna was two and sleeping in her bedroom. We still lived in New York, but it was the 12th anniversary of the twin towers falling. I ruffled Luke's blonde hair and saw a small sparkle in his emerald green eyes, an exact replica of my eyes.

"So tell us about this story of this sixteen year old girl?" Matt Lauer said. The camera shifted to that firefighter who I yelled at twelve years ago when I was sixteen.

"Well, I was directing people to places where they needed to go, when a girl about sixteen comes up to me. She asked me if I thought the north tower was going to come down, I could see the hope in her eyes, of it not coming down, I was honest with her and told her that it was coming down, she lost a small bit of the hope in her eyes. She was stubborn and said it was not coming down. I asked her why she thought so.

"She said that her boyfriend was in there and the building wouldn't fall with him in there." Travis had come in the living room since he got the day off of work like I did. "I hated to tell her that he most likely wasn't going to get out of there, I didn't want to make her cry. I told her anyways and she didn't cry, she just got angry at me. She looked at me and said that I had to get my butt in there and help people get out so that the love of her life could get out here. She frightened me for a moment and I went in the building.

"She took my spot directing people out, I never got her name, but she carried people out and helped them, she found her boyfriend, I saw them by an ambulance where she reconnected with him before helping out more people, she even stayed after they took him to the hospital. She was pulling people out of the ruble and she saw me and smiled. She didn't look very strong, but she was carrying men bigger than me while some police officers were struggling with carrying woman her size." He finished off the story about me.

"That's amazing, her dedication" Matt said. I blushed while Travis kissed my cheek, knowing the story was about me.

"Yes, it is. You remember the famous photo of the red-headed girl who carried Beth Branson out of the building?" the fireman asked. Matt nodded and pulled up a photo of me holding the brunette woman who called me a hero.

"Yes, of course, Beth was on here two years ago and told us the girls name was Katie Gardner" Matt said. I smiled while Luke had got up from his seat and was playing in his room. We were both 28 now. I found out afterwards that Beth Branson was some famous government person, that's why people were taking my photo.

"Well, the girl was her, I admit I didn't think her name would be Katie, but that's her" the man said.

"Thank you for your time Jeff, next we have Al telling us the weather today" Matt said.

"I loved you in that photo" Travis grinned at me. I smiled and pecked his lips before getting up.

"I have to go check on Anna, she's been crying for a few minutes" I laughed. He nodded and changed the channel. I got to Anna's room and picked her up. She had Travis's chocolate brown curly hair and his bright blue eyes. I kissed her chubby cheek and bounced her around.

**That was my short one-shot for the anniversary of 9/11. I hope you guys liked it.**

**Love you guys!**

**~WhenWeMeetAgain**


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